The parable of the good samaritan, then and now

Rick Morain

Luke 10:30: King James Version, (KJV): A certain man went down from Jerusalem to Jericho, and fell among thieves, which stripped him of his raiment, and wounded him, and departed, leaving him half dead.

Revised American Version (RAV): “Families that NRC is assisting with relocation, support and protection in Honduras told me how armed gangs used violence to take their land and property, and threatened to recruit their children. This forced them to flee their homes and ended their livelihoods and their children’s education,” said Jan Egeland, Executive Secretary of NRC. (Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC), April 24, 2023.)

Luke 10:31-32, KJV: And by chance there came down a certain priest that way: and when he saw him, he passed by on the other side. And likewise a Levite, when he was at the place, came and looked on him, and passed by on the other side.

RAV: Amnesty International has found that the right to seek asylum in the United States is non-existent at the U.S.-Mexico border, in violation of U.S. human rights national and international obligations. . . . These alarming findings stem from the Trump administration’s executive actions and the increased militarization of the border by the Mexican government. (Amnesty International, Feb. 20, 2025.)

Luke 10:33-34, KJV: But a certain Samaritan, as he journeyed, came where he was: and when he saw him, he had compassion on him, and went to him, and bound up his wounds, pouring in oil and wine, . . .

RAV: . . . the network of remote immigration detention centers that stretch between Texas, Louisiana and Mississippi, known as “Detention Alley” - where 14 of the country’s 20 largest detention centers are clustered. . . . These distant detention facilities and court systems have long been associated with rights violations, poor medical treatment and due process concerns, which advocates argue are only likely to intensify during the Trump administration’s immigration crackdown and promise to carry out mass deportations that has already led to a surge in the detention population. But rarely do cases within these centers attract much public attention or individual scrutiny. (The Guardian, April 2025.)

Luke 10:34, KJV: . . . and set him on his own beast, . . .

RAV: Early in the year, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott began arranging buses that would take migrants to cities perceived to be more liberal, prompting outrage from immigrants rights advocates as well as from local officials who struggled to accommodate the sudden and unannounced arrivals. As of January 2024, his administration had relocated more than 100,000 migrants, reportedly costing taxpayers $86 million between April 2022 and October 2023. (American Oversight, March 6, 2024.)

Luke 10:34, KJV: . . . and brought him to an inn, and took care of him.

RAV: The U.S. government used an 18th-century wartime law to deport more than 200 Venezuelan immigrants earlier this month to El Salvador, where they were immediately transferred to the country’s maximum-security gang prison. And while a federal judge in Washington tries to determine whether the U.S. government defied his order to return the migrants while they were in the air and insists that they must get an opportunity to challenge their designations as alleged members of a notorious gang, there has been no word from El Salvador’s president or judiciary about what the prisoners’ legal status is in that country. (Associated Press, March 25, 2025.)

Luke 10:35, KJV: And on the morrow when he departed, he took out two pence, and gave them to the host, and said unto him, Take care of him; and whatsoever thou spends more, when I come again, I will repay thee.

RAV: Since the creation of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) in 2003, the federal government has spent an estimated $409 billion on the agencies that carry out immigration enforcement, and tens of billions more on border barriers and other immigration enforcement-related infrastructure projects. (American Immigration Council, Aug. 14, 2024.)

Rick Morain is a reporter and columnist with the Jefferson Herald.